I believe you know him best as the Monk!
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: Set in Big Finish's "Doom Coalition - The Side of the Angels" where the Eighth Doctor encounters the Meddling Monk again after the deaths of Lucie and Tamsin, he isn't happy.


Disclaimer - I don't own Doctor Who in any form, especially Big Finish's Doom Coalition, where this comes from.

For the record, this one-shot is set in Doom Coalition's "The Side of the Angels" where the Eighth Doctor discovers the Meddling Monk has joined forces with a group of Time Lords, and the Weeping Angels in trying to build up a resistance force to save Gallifrey from the rogue Time Lord organisation who have destroyed the universe in order to save their own race. But the Doctor is not happy to see the Monk again, especially since a version of the Monk was responsible for the virtual destruction of Earth when he allied himself with the Daleks.

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* * *

"I believe you know him best… as the Monk?"

"….reverend? Reverend who?"

The Doctor was tired and frustrated, and he was definitely not in the mood for any of Ollistra's games. He was not in the mood, especially after what he'd learnt recently about Padrac, so the idea of getting involved with another Time Lord's games was obviously not something he wanted.

Not now.

For a long time he had been involved in Padrac's plan to destroy the universe in order to safeguard the Time Lords and Gallifrey, but the scale of what the other Time Lord was doing reminded the Doctor of that mess when Omega had first tried to return to the universe, only to be stopped by his first three incarnations back in the days of his exile to Earth.

But the bitter pill for the Doctor to swallow was just how thoroughly Padrac had used him in order to help him along with the same plan, all because Padrac, someone he had never been able to picture being a renegade Time Lord, never mind someone who was capable of shattering the Time Vortex and the future into little pieces, knew what he, the Doctor, could do.

Ever since that mess when the Eleven escaped after the Doctor's predecessor had managed to capture him, return him to Gallifrey, and see him locked up under the supervision of Padrac and Romana, who was now the President of Gallifrey, though where she was at the moment the Doctor had no idea, but he hoped she was safe from whatever Padrac was doing right now back home, the Doctor had become aware of just how thoroughly Padrac had used him.

Thanks to the Doctor's reckless stupidity and never-ending curiosity which had gotten him into trouble on many occasions, sometimes endangering his own lives, a dangerous Time Lady known as Caleera had become the Sonomancer, and the Doctor had a nasty idea she was going to be used as part of the plan cooked up by Padrac to destroy the universe. The Doctor had also been manipulated into reassembling the Doomsday Chronometer created by another renegade known as the Clocksmith, which would be used as a trigger, a signal to the organisation of Time Lords Padrac had assembled to destroy the universe, so everything the Doctor had done was pretty much to ensure the plan went forward.

He had to admit it was smart. Other renegade Time Lords would have known he was a dangerous threat to their schemes, and they would try to stop his intervention by trying to have him killed - the Master had tried on many occasions, never learning from the mistake the attempts to kill the Doctor would only make the Doctor more determined to find out what was going on.

Not Padrac. No, he had proven that for such an unassuming, boring character, he was smart enough to make the Doctor's meddling a key part of the plan. And it looked like the idea had paid off; the universe was hanging by threads, the Vortex was practically reduced to a torn, devastated version of itself.

The Doctor shook his head as he tried to focus on the current situation, but he was getting seriously tired of Ollistra, but he couldn't help but wonder why she was on Earth in the first place. Why wasn't she trying to stop Padrac? Who was that woman he'd seen her speaking to?

Ollistra spared him a look just after her subordinate had left - he wasn't in the mood for games, not after seeing the hell Padrac was imposing on the universe, of experiencing the anger and frustration at himself, Helen and Liv being stuck in that escape pod being catapulted into the ruined future where the Vortex was hanging by threads, and he definitely wasn't in the mood for her secrets even if he was interested in discovering what her plans were.

A slow smile spread across the Cardinals' face - it was so strange her being here, smirking like that, in the middle of New York - and she answered his question. "I believe you know him best… as the Monk?"

The Doctor immediately stilled, and thoughts of Padrac immediately left his mind for the time being. "What?" he whispered in disbelief.

_The Monk?_

The Monk was here, in New York, and he was clearly working alongside Ollistra and heaven only knew how many other Time Lords here on Earth, and the Doctor wondered just what the Monk was doing this time.

* * *

The Doctor hadn't seen the Monk for some time after what the other Time Lord had done after he'd helped save the life of the Dalek Time Controller, and released a deadly virus into Earth's atmosphere to weaken the population and allow the Daleks to once more conquer Earth, so they could retrieve other deadly viruses by travelling around in time and space.

Even now the Doctor could not believe just how far the Monk had been willing to go to get revenge on him. When Alex, Tamsin and Lucie had all died on top of the tens of millions of innocent people who had been wiped out by the plague the Monk had spread into Earth's atmosphere before the Daleks moved in, battered down what was left, and used what was left of the human populace to gouge a hole into the earth to allow it to house a time warp engine that would have allowed the Daleks to retrieve those remaining Amethyst viruses, and use them to wipe out the planets that would pose a threat to the Daleks in the future.

When the Doctor had found out the Monk had been using the opportunity to plunder Earth of its treasures, he had been disgusted by how far the Monk was willing to go, though how much of it was down to revenge over him, the Doctor did not know and he definitely didn't care. He had no intention of forgiving the Monk; time meddling was one thing, deliberately destroying millions of lives and potentially giving the Daleks the power they needed to conquer the universe was another, but thinking the Daleks would one day be defeated and using that as an excuse… Well, the Doctor had not felt guilty in the least telling the Monk to get away from him; just because he had saved the Doctor and Susan from the destroyed time warp engine when Lucie had crashed that Dalek saucer into it, did not mean the Doctor could not lash out.

And yet… And yet the Doctor could not help but think a large majority of the blame lay at his feet, well the feet of his first incarnation. The Eighth Doctor had had a lot of time to think to himself when he had left Susan in the aftermath of the second Dalek invasion of Earth just after Lucie's death had pushed him over the edge, on top of the simultaneous losses of Tamsin and Alex, and he had looked back over his past encounters with the Monk.

He had to admit to himself that although the time meddler had deserved it, the Doctor had gone too far in removing the dimensional controller from the Monk's TARDIS; it was only because of that the Monk had decided to come after him to Earth when the Daleks were trying to use that time destructor in the first place, though the directional unit had definitely been a bonus.

The Doctor pushed those thoughts aside, he hadn't been in his first incarnation for centuries and this was not the time to think about things like that.

He didn't know, and frankly did not care what the Monk was doing in New York; ever since that out of sequence encounter with the incarnation of the Monk who had helped the Daleks re-invade Earth in the 22nd century back in his fifth incarnation that resulted in an alternate timeline that even now he could remember, where the Monk had decided to take the Doctor's place to make history better, the Doctor had decided he'd had more than enough of the Monk's insane schemes.

He wanted to know what the Monk and Ollistra were working on together, but he really wanted to know what they would be doing about Padrac now he'd murdered the majority of the High Council.

* * *

"Ready for our flyover, Doctor?" Ollistra asked with that same smile that made her fellow Time Lord feel like he was being mocked. The Doctor and she were standing on a helipad on top of a building where the vista of New York was surrounding them, and they were approaching a helicopter.

The Doctor glared at her. "Just get on with it, you said you had a plan to stop Padrac?" he asked, making it clear he wanted his questions answered properly for a change instead of just finding out what was going on at the last minute.

"It's….best explained from the air," Ollistra hedged before they got close to the helicopter where a man wearing an expensive suit was waiting for them. "Here's our pilot."

The Doctor recognised the man instantly. He may have regenerated again, but the Doctor had no problem recognising the face of the Monk, though the moustache definitely brought back memories… The Doctor realised he had met this version of the Monk before, back in both his second and his third incarnations. He remembered vividly how this version of the Monk had poisoned Jo and forced him to work on helping Doctor Kurdi improve humanity before it had blown up in his face like it usually did because he didn't stop to think about what he was doing…

"Monk! Surprised you could even face me!" the Doctor said, not even trying to hide his animosity towards the other Time Lord.

"Ollistra," the Monk's voice broke through his thoughts and he quickly resumed his focus while the Doctor could not help but ask himself just how long it had been for the Monk since they'd last met, "you didn't say it was the Doctor who would be joining us?"

Ah, he remembered this incarnation liked to speak with a few laughs added on.

Ah, so the Monk was also someone who was on the receiving ends of Ollistra's political games as well.

"Didn't I? I wasn't sure he'd make it."

The Monk dismissed Ollistra as he focused on his former classmate. The Doctor did likewise. "Well, Doctor," the Monk said, looking at him with his usual cheerful smile without a trace of guilt over what he'd done in the past. "How are you? Good to see you again!"

"Good? There's never anything good in finding you mixed up in things!"

"Honestly, why do you always take offence? Surely in the circumstances, we should be working together?" the Monk said, looking at the Doctor with his usual pained expression which he got whenever someone questioned him. It had never worked for the Doctor in the past, and ever since the deaths the incarnation of this Time Lord had indirectly caused by helping the Daleks, the Doctor had no intention of being fooled by the Monk. Ever.

"Should we? Why? What's in it for you this time?" The Doctor snapped, not missing a beat.

"Gentleman, please," Ollistra cut across them both, looking at them much like she would do with her former students; the thought of being treated like an academy novice did not sit well with the Doctor. He had not given a damn when he'd been younger, but now he was centuries older and had experienced and seen so much, he didn't like being treated like a child. "A little civility."

Ollistra's words angered the Doctor. She must have known what the Monk had done in the past, but then again since when had the Time Lords ever given a damn about anything? It was sad, but ever since his trial back in his sixth incarnation, the Doctor had been increasingly aware that the Time Lords were darkening as a people.

Padrac's current actions were just part of a larger problem, but he wanted to know what kind of mess Ollistra was cooking up here on Earth, with the Monk of all renegades.

The Monk looked at Ollistra, his expression reminding the Doctor of a henpecked husband trying to make his point to his wife. "I'm trying to be civil. He won't listen."

Ah, there it was, the usual excuses… The Monk love making them. He would wheedle his way out of situations by trying to convince others his actions and his words were part of a well thought out plan, or that he was trying his best. In this case, the Doctor knew the Monk was not really trying, which made it even more pathetic.

"I don't want to hear your whining self-justification, that's all," the Doctor said.

And he didn't. He didn't want to hear the Monk whinge as he was prone to do when the pressure got to him, but this was not one of those moments though it was close to the mark and they knew it.

The Monk's expression shifted a little bit. "Listen, Doctor, please. I start afresh with every regeneration. If any past or future me has done something to upset you-," he tried to plead but it fell on deaf ears because the Doctor wasn't sure if the Monk was trying to tell him a joke or if he just saying all this for Ollistra's sake.

Start afresh with every regeneration?

If any past or future me has done something to upset you?

Right, as if he was going to believe that! Start afresh with every regeneration? The Doctor didn't believe him. If the Monk was genuinely being honest with him, then why did the first incarnation he had met centuries after their initial meetings both in Northumbria and on Tigris try to make him make an impossible choice on Deimos with the Ice Warriors before going on to unleash the Daleks on Earth?

But the last part where the Monk made it seem like the actions of his other selves were made by other people made him angry. Granted, he knew that many Time Lords, himself included, were prone to looking at the actions of their other incarnations, past and future, and thinking of them as the acts committed by other people, but the fact the Monk was using that as an excuse made him angry… The Doctor had no idea where this meeting was in the Monk's current timeline. He had no idea if at this point the Doctor and the Monk had met during his exile on Earth back when the Doctor was in his third incarnation, but he didn't care.

The Doctor harshly cut across him, "Believe me, they have," he replied as he recalled the memories of his previous encounters with the Monk; from that time where his first incarnation, Steven and Vicki were tied by the Monk's temporary Viking allies, to the version who had twisted Tamsin even after she'd met the man at Kell's Abbey…

"..then it didn't happen on my watch!" the Monk finished, ignoring what the other man had just said, though the Doctor was not wildly surprised, he couldn't help sneering out his reply, "Well, I suppose that's typical of you, using regeneration as an excuse. A way of avoiding responsibility."

The Monk's mood shifted and he smiled. "I think of it more as a clean slate. Gallifrey asked for help, I'm happy to answer her call."

The smug, hypocritical way the Monk had just said that made the Doctor want to laugh, but he didn't because of the malicious way the other Time Lord was smirking at him, and out of the corner of his eye he could see Ollistra's similar expression.

He knew many of the other Time Lords didn't like him or his activities, but he couldn't say he truly cared, but he couldn't believe Ollistra was working with this time meddler in whatever scheme she had in mind.

But the Doctor knew the truth, and he had no hesitation in pointing it out to the Monk, and he didn't care what Ollistra thought, though it was possible the Time Lady politician was already aware of that part of the Monk's personality, no matter what life he was in.

"You're happy to make a quick buck, and save your sorry hide into the bargain."

The Monk shook his head and eyed him with a rather sad expression. "Such deep-seated resentment," he said with exaggerated disappointment, "Have you ever considered seeing a doctor, Doctor?" he looked like he was on the cusp of chuckling at his little joke, but he didn't get the chance.

Ollistra suddenly interrupted, either because she was tired of the fighting or she had lost her amusement of the occasion, though which one it was, the Doctor had no idea, and if he were honest he didn't care either. "Stop squabbling!" her voice cracked like a blaster rifle. "Let's get to the helicopter," she said, and with one last smug smirk sent his way, the Monk turned around and got into the helicopter.

After she had gestured for him to get inside, Ollistra asked him, "Why so hostile, Doctor?"

"He knows why," the Doctor replied, not believing for a moment Ollistra didn't know anything about the Monk's past activities. As a member of the High Council, she would have knowledge of all the activities of the prominent renegades, but if she didn't know about what the Monk had done when he'd been allied with the Daleks, the Doctor would really surprised, but he wasn't going to bring it up.

Unfortunately, the Monk had overheard them. "Perhaps I do, perhaps I don't," he said with a grin that only made that moustache look even more ludicrous, "but judge me on MY actions. I'm a whole new ME!"

* * *

The Doctor couldn't believe Ollistra was stupid enough to trust the Weeping Angels. He had known for years his people had gone mad over the centuries, but he had never imagined they would be insane… But her plan to build a copy of Gallifrey's capital city and shift it slightly out of phase of Earth's timeline while using the Weeping Angels to power it up by using humans to give them the energy. The Doctor didn't bother accusing her of not having compassion, he knew it would be a waste of time.

But from what he could gather, the Monk had been on Earth in New York, stepping into Robert Mosley's shoes, and adding a few new buildings to the city that were not meant to be there, and while the Doctor frowned on the type of activities the Monk got himself in, in this case the Doctor thought the Monk was responsible! What a change.

He also had the impression that although the Monk was helping her, he wasn't completely happy about it. That made sense; when the Monk interfered with history, he didn't like anyone poking their nose into things, and upsetting his plans; the Doctor remembered his first encounter with the other Time Lord after they'd left Gallifrey, the Monk had tried everything in his power, including trying to convince him how killing off the Vikings would be the best thing to factor in the outcome of the Battle of Hastings, to stop any chance of the "masterplan to end all masterplans" being foiled.

Rassilon only knew how the Monk had felt suddenly having a gang of Time Lords turning up suddenly. It was like the Monk, really; he would have realised it would be in his best interest to help Ollistra, or else he would be in trouble.

There was no doubt in the Doctor's mind the mad scheme it would come tumbling down perhaps without any interference from him. There was no chance the Weeping Angels would be willing to help the Time Lords. It was in their nature, they could not help it.

One thing was for sure; Ollistra's mad plan would not work, and besides that, it made no sense; why wait 500 years to get stronger when the Time Lords had no concept of the topic in the first place?

He had to find Liv and Helen, but knowing them, it might already be too late….

* * *

The Doctor felt no sympathy for the Monk later on when he turned away from the Time Lord who had once been part of his group of friends back home during their truant days back on Gallifrey. This whole mess was the Monk's own fault, and once more the snivelling idiot was out of his depth, willing to help anyone just to save his own hide.

The Monk had done it many times before, so the Doctor wasn't shocked he had immediately joined with the Eleven in betraying Ollistra.

Besides, the Doctor had to admit he had thought this out quite well; the Weeping Angels were what was powering Ollistra's wonderful project. Humans would barely provide a great deal of energy for them to feast on, but the time energy of a Time Lord was another matter. When he turned his back, the Doctor had to close his eyes at the sounds of the Monk's pleas for him not to turn away.

He would reverse the damage Ollistra and the Monk had done, but he couldn't help but wonder if he was doing this to get even with the Monk after everything he'd done….

The Doctor pushed that aside, he had to focus on Padrac next. He could feel the time energy created from the Monk's departure being channelled into the enclave, and there was nothing Ollistra could do about it; he had no doubt she was alive, he himself had fallen from a great height from a radio tower during that mess with Logopolis and the Master's insane plans, and he'd regenerated into his fourth incarnation. Ollistra would be alright, though he doubted she would be interested in further carrying out her plans.

But a part of him couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty for what had happened with Monk, and he couldn't help but wonder just how far back he'd been sent….

* * *

Until the next story, readers!


End file.
